The present invention relates to an automated gate system of modular design which permits installation of the gate by simply providing a concrete footing and mounting the gate in which all of the systems for operating the gate are supported.
In particular, the invention relates to such a gate system especially suitable for residential use and incorporating designs having external architectural niceties coupled with internal support for gate operating components and securement of the gate upon a standardized gate post.
The invention further relates to such a gate system in which conventional hinging of the gate to the post is eliminated.
There have been a number of efforts at designing automatic gate systems. One, directed toward meeting the needs of those residing where commercial electricity is not economically available is disclosed in Lybecker, et al., U.S. Pat . No. 4,416,085 in which all of the power and activating components including a solar panel, a control box, and a separately mounted hydraulic cylinder are located externally of the post and gate to take advantage of the mechanical linkage, and solar source positioning, required for operational efficiency.
Holloway, U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,592 provides a more compact design with a rather cumbersome construction including a motor and wheel system which attaches onto the distal end of an existing gate to roll it open and shut.
Reid, U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,723, like Lybecker '085, discloses externally mounted apparatus for opening and closing a gate through a linkage.
Lybecker, U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,597, improved his earlier patent by supplying a bracket that incorporated the gate post.
Court, et al. , U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,295 and Gaddis, U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,628, generally follow in the same vein, each having remotely mounted control devices and solar cells opening and closing a gate through an extended mechanical linkage.
Although these prior art efforts attempted to provide ease of installation, they generally suffer two major drawbacks. First, the multiplicity of modules and mechanical linkages make installation time-consuming and complex. Second, the operating components are exposed to tampering, dust contamination, and the elements.
Carr, U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,543 discloses a gate actuator and other operational elements secured along the side of a post which is embedded in, and integral to, a concrete footing, the gate being conventionally hinged to the actuator for lifting the gate.
Hall, U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,650, has a conventional gate strapped to the cam follower of the actuator, the inner support member of which is embedded in concrete. Hall's invention is in a lift and rotate actuator and suggests the support of other operational elements within the confines of the actuator.
Butler, U. S. Pat. No. 4,916,859, incorporated the actuator within the gate post, anticipating the ramming of the separate gate by terrorists.
Sawyer, U.S. Pat. No. 2,311,967, is also concerned with impact of vehicles on his gate and provides his operational mechanisms atop the gate post to which the gate is conventionally hinged.
There are several major drawbacks to the concept of housing the actuator and other operating elements of automatic gates in the gate post and conventionally securing the gate to the post and/or actuator. The first is that severe impact damage to the post requires replacement of both the post and the footing. Secondly, and more importantly, the components inside the post are next to impossible to access for repair and maintenance without a major disassembly operation. Also, more complex control systems require ever increasing post dimensions within which to fit them. Hence, the supplier would either have to manufacture relatively mamouth standard post diameters to accommodate the possibility that a customer may wish to upgrade the system and add components, thereby wasting materials, or the supplier would have to sell differently dimensioned posts in accordance with system complexity, thereby requiring the purchaser to purchase an entirely new post unit should he desires to upgrade. Further, fabrication and assembling and then installation of the complex and cumbersome post is time consuming and labor intensive at both the assembling and installation stages.
The present invention eliminates these problems by standardizing the post unit and providing support for the electromechanical control systems within the gate module itself designed with ample and generous dimensions for housing the control systems and incorporating an integral gate post housing surrounding the post.